Alicia Pakareu commented on a previous post about Veracel, to inform us about another threat caused by eucalyptus monocultures and extensive cattle grazing. Above is her video, and below is her information posted on vimeo.com.

For the past three months, landless farmers from Brazil’s Movement of Landless Peasants (MST) have occupied an area of land used by the company Veracel. The land is classified as devolutas land, which is land that has no official land title and therefore belongs to the state. The state is supposed to allocate these lands to small-scale farmers, never to private companies. Despite the protests, despite the devolutas land issue and despite the ongoing problems that Veracel has created for local communities, Veracel remains certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

This press release and photos come from the Alert against the Green Desert Network in Bahia.

This month’s World Rainforest Movement Bulletin is focussed on women’s voices on plantations. The following article looks at the impacts of plantations on women in Brazil, and how women are leading the struggle against plantations.(more…)

Aracruz has announced that it is to “temporarily suspend” the construction of its new pulp mill in Guaiba, Rio Grande do Sul province. Construction at the proposed new pulp mill started in August 2008 and the planned start of operations was 2010.(more…)

Aracruz Celulose has started construction of a new 1.3 million tonnes per year pulp mill in Guaíba, in Rio Grande do Sul. Aracruz’s operations at Guaíba currently produce 500,000 tonnes per year. The project will include an increase in the area of industrial tree plantations to provide raw material for the pulp, which will be shipped to Asia.(more…)

The International Day Against Monoculture Tree Plantations has its roots in Brazil, where 21 September is the “Day of the Tree”. Activists campaigning against industrial tree plantations chose this symbolic date for a National Day of Struggle in Brazil against Monoculture Tree Plantations.(more…)

A Brazilian Federal Court ruled in June 2008 that Veracel must uproot 96,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations and replant the land with native trees. Veracel was also fined US$12.5 million for deforesting areas of the Atlantic Forest with bulldozers and tractors during its first years of operation.(more…)